It's Time to Cover Final Base on Earth Dana Parsons, Dana Parsons' column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821 or at dana.parsons@latimes.com. An archive of his recent columns is at www.latimes.com/parsons.

Spooks and the Art of the Dissenting Footnote Robert Carlin, Robert Carlin was chief of the Northeast Asia division of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research from 1989 to 2002 and before that an analyst in the CIA.